July 2011 Six Pix

Most of the time it's just entirely too difficult to choose ONLY 6 photos.  This was one of those months.  So here are my EIGHT photos for July Six Pix.

My little Jaynie's rainbow toes.  I just can't get enough of those chubby little feet.  So very cute.

 

One of MANY backyard pool parties.  We most definitely got our money's worth out of that pool.  It has sprayers all over the orange thing so you can play in the pool even as it's filling up.  Jayna spent many a hot, humid day in that pool.  And I even got in there a few times.

 

We watched Laura and Lee's dogs this month.  This is Lani...she watches television.  It is the most hilarious thing ever...especially if you turn on Animal Planet.

 

"Look mommy!!  I drew a centipede!!"  I then relayed to Jayna that I am deathly afraid of centipedes.  So, what did she do?  She took red chalk and drew a line by it's face.  She then said, "See mommy...now it has a mustache.  You CAN'T be afraid of a centipede with a mustache."

 

Jayna is in that splash of water.  She LOVES waterslides!!  Every week after swim lessons, the kids get a few times to go down the slide and Jayna gets back in line EVERY TIME to do it again. 

 

Two princesses having a worldly discussion...probably about politics.  Or Barbies.  Who can tell?  :)  Layla and Jayna play so well together.  It's nice since I'm sort of friends with Layla's parents. Ha.

 

Jayna and I resting after a LONG weekend in the sun.  See my face?  Yep...I'm fried.  Oh, and Jayna is wearing her stylish home-decorated eye patch.  Maybe she won't have to have surgery.  (Okay...she DID have surgery...6 months later.)

 

Chris helping Jayna at swim lessons.  She's such a trooper.  Look at that resolve on her face!!  She doesn't give up easily at anything...a good trait to possess. 

 

 

July was a busy month for us!  How about you?

June 2011 Six Pix

I'm behind.  And I should probably just start with 2012 at this point, but posterity prevails.

I have found over the years that Six Pix is a really good way to sum up a month.  Sort of a month in the life of our family.  And I'll continue to catch up on Six Pix.

Jayna and her friend Layla at Layla's house.  Those girls LOVE books and princess attire. 

 

Hanging out on the dock at Lake Freeman.

 

Playing in the lake.  She had so much fun even though she had to wear ear plugs.

 

That's one of my favorite friends, Erik, on his wedding day.  This picture is a classic example of why I should keep up with blogging instead of waiting more than a year later to post a photo.  We had a great time in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge with Erik and Janette and Mark and Charlotte.  And my liver DEFINITELY needed a break after this vacation. :)

 

I started playing harmonica this year.  It's so much fun and I'm actually not too bad at it! Chris and I have spent countless nights out on the back patio playing guitar and harmonica and enjoying some good wine.

 

Those 2. :)  They are buddies.  And Ollie loves to steal some petting from Jayna in the backseat of the car.

 

 

What did YOU do in June of 2011? Ha.

 

May 2011 Six Pix

May was fun. 

May was random.

May was a "go with the flow" month.  I don't have very many months that are "go with the flow."  I'm not generally a "go with the flow" person.  I'm working on that...and that is a long post all on it's own.  And it's fast approaching that I feel like writing about it...you know, with the holidays coming up (my LEAST "go with the flow" time of year).

At any rate, I had a lot of fun, some heartbreak, a little stress, too much anxiety and a big victory in May.  And not very many photos to show for it.

Here are some photos and some stories to go along with them:

In May, Chris was still in a band.  Sunday mornings/afternoons were my alone time with Jayna and we very often took advantage of it by doing things that Chris wouldn't really miss out on...i.e. going to the mall. On this particular day, Jayna wanted to go to "that lighted up restaurant" (Johnny Rocket's) to eat french fries.  So we went there.  She sat in a chair across the table from me by herself with no booster because she's "a big girl."  She also ordered her own drink and food because she's "a big girl."  And she used her manners by saying please and thank you because she's...you guessed it:  "a big girl."  On that particular day, it dawned on me that she really is growing up into a very awesome kid.  And that makes me proud and sad at the same time.

I have wanted to learn how to play harmonica for a long time now.  On Memorial Day, Chris said, "Hey...let's go to Guitar Center and get your harmonica."  It was a win-win-win.  I got my harmonica, Chris got to play some guitars and Jayna got to go play piano, guitar, drums, etc.  She really loves that store.  She also loves to sit on the stools.  This is one of my favorite pictures of her EVER.  She just looks so very sweet.

As you all know, Chris and I ran the Mini in May.  I will not go into that again, as I've written a couple of books about it.  I still love this photo, though.  That was a HUGE victory for me...one that I desparately needed in the midst of many other obstacles in life.  I haven't thought the same way about myself since I finished that race...horrible time or not. :)

This picture makes me laugh because soooo very many people think Chris is quiet and reserved.  This?  This is the REAL Chris.  Goofy and quick to make you laugh.  He was the best support I could've had before, during and after the Mini.  I love him to pieces.

One random Friday night, KT called and asked if she could stop by.  Stopping by on a Friday night in the warm months will inevitably lead to back porch guitar playing and wine drinking.  And that's what we did.  It's always nice to unexpectedly see friends.

This guy is Erik.  This day is my birthday.  This event was a show that The Band played at a Moose Lodge.  ON MY BIRTHDAY. (Oh...did I already mention that?)  I spent my birthday at a Moose Lodge.  I'm 31, not 75.  Anyhoo, there is a very long, ugly, heartbreaking story to be told about this night and the few weeks after this night.  Since it is all just juicy gossip that STILL dang near makes me cry, I won't tell it here.  I will just say that this was Erik's first time singing on a stage. EVER.  It makes me so proud of my friends when they do things to face their fears.  It was a rough go, but he did it!!  I love this guy and I hope we are always friends.  He is currently in Germany with his outstanding wife, Janette, until sometime next year, but I'm patiently awaiting their return.  We have drinking to do. :)

What did YOU do in May?

April 2011 Six Pix

Glorious April.  The end of snow.  Atleast for awhile.

April was fun.  We did some out-of-the-ordinary things.  Unexpected fun is the best kind.

Here are 9...not 6...photos of what we did:

We went to my friend's nephew's birthday party at Southeastway Park at the end of April.  In the favor bags were these mustaches.  That is my friend Maria and me with said mustaches on.  We wore them the entire time and Jayna thought it was hilarious.

It had rained for a solid 2 weeks before the above-mentioned birthday party.  The playground was full of mud.  One fall off the slide and this is what Jayna looked like.  She didn't care...she went straight back for more.

I got really brave one Saturday and decided that to celebrate Jayna being all the way potty trained, we'd take her to Chuck E. Cheese.  NEVER again.  We asked our friends Michelle and Sam to come, as well as Nana B, Anthony, Aunt Summer and Uncle Tony.  The kids had lots of fun.  The parents all went home and drank heavily.  That place is a nightmare.

This was Jayna's present from Nana for her awesome job with potty training.  The first time she drove it (the time of this photo), she wrecked it into our house and didn't ride it again until about a week ago.  Apparently wrecking your PowerWheel into the house is quite traumatizing.

Oh, Oliver.  He is UNDER his dog bed in this photo.  He slept like that for almost the entire night.  He's...special. :)

At Jockamo's Pizza.  Jayna put on my sunglasses, looked over at a guy at the next table and said, "Hey, doll!!"  That kid is hilarious.  And she reminds me of Jack Nicholson in this photo.

That is Jayna's school under there.  She sits under the bar part of out kitchen island and pretends she's at school.  Hey...as long as she's not destroying something, I don't care where her school is.

This is Jayna in preparation for the Royal Wedding.  Who knew that she'd be spot with British fashion with that stupid looking huge flower on top of her head.  Atleast she's still a kid and not a grown ass woman who looks like a moron with a giant bow on her head.  Y'all know who I'm talking about.

This is how I spent many an evening in April after Jayna went to bed.  Too bad it's a million degrees now and too hot for a guitar to even stay in tune.

The first 3 photos were taken with a camera.  The last 6 were taken with my iPhone and then through Instagram.

"When are you going to STOP calling it Six Pix, Danielle?!?  There are NEVER only six." 

I'll call it what I want.  And maybe next month there will be six. :)

What did YOU do in April?

March 2011 Six Pix

To be completely honest, I had to go back and look at my photos to remember what I actually did in March.

As it turns out, March seems to always be the time of year that things finally slow down from the holidays.  It always causes me to walk away from the camera and just relax a little. 

Oh yeah...and the weather starts changing.  Glorious spring arrives and I go outside and enjoy the sunlight and breezy mild temps.  Doesn't get much better after a LONG AND COLD ASS WINTER.  A winter that seemed to last for an entire year.

Am I the only one who thinks that?  Is it just me or did last winter seem to be especially long, cold and just plain annoying?  Huh. 

Anyhoo, I did some interesting things in March.  You'll see from the pics.  And here are TEN (instead of 6) photos in no particular order.

Jayna had a doc appointment on this day, so I brought her to work with me for about an hour.  She loves coming in and seeing daddy and nana. 

A piano playing fairy.  I guess she'd be a music fairy in Pixie Hollow terms. :)

I got my hair chopped off in March.  Trust me, it needed it.  This is my sassy face.

On St. Patrick's Day, I got to go to Bloomington and teach a scrapbooking/crafting seminar type of thing.  And I of course had to go have a Blue Hawaiian at Yogi's.  I DID practically live there for 3 years (at Yogi's...not just in Bloomington).

I also went to Wine & Canvas with my good friend Michelle...or MZQ as she's been renamed.  We had a blast.  And yes, I drank beer instead of wine.  Go figure.  If you're looking for something fun and different to do, this is it.

Now that Jayna's getting older, she just adores Oliver.  She regularly pets him and kisses him and tells him she loves him.  Sometimes when we're gone from the house for a long time, she'll say, "I'm ready to go...I want to go see my Ollie."

Chris and the band had a show at a Martinsville bar on a Sunday afternoon.  And, again, KT came with me.  I thank her for joining me at such a strange time for her to be in a bar.  It's pretty commonplace for me. :)  I enjoyed her company and I thank her for her support.

When Chris plays guitar, Jayna likes to get her guitar and rock out with him.  I'm glad he's wearing pants though.

This may be one of my all time favorite pictures of Jayna.  Of course, I do have a soft spot for Dirty Harry. "Do you feel lucky?  Well, do ya, punk?"

There are some things that kids will just always do.  Marker cap fingers is one of 'em.

It should be said that all of these photos were taken with my iPhone.  I love that I am able to document my life through my phone.  It's incredibly convenient.

What did YOU do in March?

February 2011 Six Pix

February was the debut of my iPhone.  There are pros and cons to that situation in the area of photos.

I take atleast 50 photos a month with my phone.  I run most of them through Instagram and post them to Facebook...all from my iPhone.  It's so much easier than uploading just one or two pictures from my actual camera just to put them on Facebook.

In the month of February, I took a total of 42 pictures.  That's NOTHING compared to most months.  But half of those were iPhone photos. 

Anyhooters, my point is that atleast I have the ability to take on-the-fly photos with my phone.  That means that I TAKE more pictures.  But that means that a lot of them aren't very good quality and rarely make it anywhere except to Facebook.

Here are February's Six:

Camera photo.  This was Chris' first time playing in 10 years in a band for an audience.  While the band has since parted ways, he gained so much musical knowledge and confidence in his playing over that time period.  Big things are coming for him.

 

Camera photo.  KT went with me to Chris' show to support him.  Even though it was in a high school gym.  In Martinsville.  On a Friday night.  She's a good friend.

iPhone photo.  Jayna and I made the Valentine's for her preschool friends this year.  These were for the boys.  On the back, they said, "Best fishes on Valentine's Day."

 

iPhone photo.  When I asked Jayna what she wanted to get for her friends for Valentine's Day, she said hair barrettes.  So I crocheted some flowers and glued them to barrettes.  The little girls still wear them.  The owl was the Valentine card for the girls...also made my Jayna ME.

iPhone photo. It's NEVER too cold to swing.  NEVER.  I love the perspective of this photo. It's whimsical to me. :)

 

iPhone photo.  This was the first thing that Jayna built all by herself with her blocks.  It's a robot.

As you can see, more photos from my phone than from my camera.

What did YOU do in February?

January 2011 Six Pix

I've been putting off Six Pix for this particular month.  For a very particular reason. 
I'm still...STILL...dealing with the Morgan's death.  It doesn't get easier.  I still cry sometimes when I think about it.  I still miss him horribly.  He was a part of my life for 10 years and that doesn't just go away.

I can finally look at these pictures and atleast not completely lose it.  I thought for months about deleting all of them.  I felt like they were sort of morbid pictures.  I've since come to my senses and realized that they provide a sense of closure for me.

This was Jayna's final goodbye to Moe on January 7th.  She didn't understand, of course.  She asked where he was as soon as she got home from school.  She still asks about him from time to time and tells random people at random times that he "went to a better place where he can fly." :)

After I dropped Jayna off at school that morning, I came home before taking Moe to the vet and finished crocheting this cowl.  I had to occupy my mind for the 2 hours before his appointment.  It is my favorite thing that I've crocheted to date.  This one was for KT, but I'll be making myself one this winter.

This is the last photo that was taken of me and my first child.  I love you, Captain Morgan.

Chris, Ollie and Moe.  Family is who you make it.

The very next day, January 8th, was my stepdad, Roger's, retirement party.  We surprised him...and it worked!!!  He had NO idea! 

This is my sister-in-law, Summer, drinking 2 bottles of champagne.  This picture just makes me laugh.

What did YOU do in January??